Its a Wonderful Afterlife review

Gurinder Chadha's latest, "It's A Wonderful Afterlife" is missing the energy and the zing of her previous hit "Bend It Like Beckham", but it's a moderately entertaining film nonetheless thanks to some witty dialogue, and the enthusiastic performances of its two female protagonists.In the end, it's a little too sentimental for an out-and-out comedy, but makes for time-pass viewing on a lazy weekend.I'm going with two-and-a-half out of five and an average rating for director Gurinder Chadha's "It's A Wonderful Afterlife". Don't expect to be falling off your chair with laughter, but still more enjoyable than watching "Housefull" any day.

I am not going to mince words. With IT'S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE, celebrated film-maker Gurinder Chadha hits a new low. It actually makes me wonder, was BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM a fluke? IT'S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE is so insipid and hollow that it makes her previous film BRIDE & PREJUDICE, considered by many as her weakest film, look like an epic in comparison. Final word? IT'S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE had everything going in its favour. But let's not forget that great vegetables don't necessarily make a yummy meal. This Gurinder Chadha curry is just not palatable!

Statutory warning: Please do not go expecting another genre-bending cinematic experience from the filmmaker who gave us Bend it Like Beckham, that gem of a film that became a Bible for almost any and every young girl aspiring to fly over the gender bind. This time round, Gurinder Chadha doesn't manage to hold up a crackling mirror to the desi experience of growing up in phoren soil, despite anchoring her story once again in a Punjabi family that tries to cling to the Indian way of life in old Blighty. Also, don't go expecting laughs all the way. Because, unlike Bend it...there isn't much to tickle the funny bone here.It's a Wonderful Afterlife could have...would have...should have...but all it does is end up as average fare: Indian curry yes, yet minus the tangy flavour.

Gurinder Chadha’s It’s a Wonderful Afterlife (a kinda pun-masala on the title of Frank Capra’s family values classic It’s a Wonderful Life) is a beggar’s banquet that could put you off desi cuisine for an afterlifetime. The co-writer-director of this Anglo-Indian fusion is in an utter state of confusion. What on earth and Mars is she saying in this purported para-normal comedy? Zilch, leaving you with the feeling of severe indigestion. Burp re baap.Like it or not, It’s a Wonderful Afterlife is not so wonderful at all. At most, it’s a bheja boil.Now, she caters a dish which is neither mackerel nor murghi. Out here, her recipe merely blows the pressure cooker of the mind. Get a new theme Ms Chadha, a new theme, a new concern, a new script, a new movie, leave the Southallians to Brick Lane and My Son the Fanatic. Chadha may have had a grid for the absurd fest in her mind, but it’s totally lost on the viewer.Sad. Such is curries dearie.

Unfortunately the film, co-written and directed by Gurinder Chadha, cannot match Shabana’s performance.Chadha, who at her best like in Bend it like Beckham, displays a wonderful ability to juggle genres, chooses here to create a broad, farcical comedy set in London’s Southall.But It’s a Wonderful Afterlife never achieves full lift off. There are too many dull stretches. The film has the texture of a clunky television sitcom. The writing isn’t sparkling enough and after a while, the ghosts with their incessant chatter and peeling skin start to grate on your nerves. There are moments of affection and sweetness but It’s a Wonderful Afterlife is purposefully silly and way over the top. If that sounds like your cup of tea, by all means go for it. If nothing else, the ladies can swoon over the dreamy Sendhil.

With a gluttonous plot and gastronomical premise, Chadha puts a lot of thought in food but sadly there is no food for thought in her film. After a literal gut-wrenching start where a man’s intestines blow up due to excess of ingestion, the viewer is fed with as much overdose of food, flab and farce. The film starts off promisingly but eventually the dull screenplay by Gurinder Chadha and husband Paul Mayeda Berges fails to breathe life in the plot. Clearly it’s not designed as a horror flick to spook you so you are prepared to digest the preposterous premise. Sadly in present times, horror films turn out to be laughable while comedy films turn out to be horrific. Some one-liners are pretty funny but otherwise the comic timing of the ghostly cast is flawed.